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Do you feel that there’s not enough time in the day to accomplish all that you need to do?
We are all given the same number of hours every day, but most of us are terrible at using them. Before we realize it, the opportunity’s passed and it’s too late to make up for important things we’ve missed.
Today’s collection of time quotes encourages you to use time in the wisest way possible. We have inspirational quotes about time, quotes about time management, value of time quotes, and funny quotes about time.
We cannot stop how time flows. What we can do, however, is be mindful of how we use it.
It will be challenging at first to become masters at maximizing the use of our time to improve productivity and reach success, but the outcome will be worth all the effort.
Here are inspirational quotes about time. May these words from the wise inspire you to cherish every moment you have.
Inspirational Quotes About Time
- “All that really belongs to us is time; even he who has nothing else has that.”– Baltasar Gracian
- “The way we spend our time defines who we are.”– Jonathan Estrin
- “Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.”– Steve Jobs
- “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”– J. R. R. Tolkien
- “Yesterday’s the past, tomorrow’s the future, but today is a gift. That’s why it’s called the present.”– Bil Keane
- “We all have our time machines. Some take us back, they’re called memories. Some take us forward, they’re called dreams.”– Jeremy Irons
- “Forever is composed of nows.”– Emily Dickinson
- “All great achievements require time.”– Maya Angelou
- “Sometimes I feel like if you just watch things, just sit still and let the world exist in front of you – sometimes I swear that just for a second time freezes and the world pauses in its tilt. Just for a second. And if you somehow found a way to live in that second, then you would live forever.”– Lauren Oliver
- “One day spent with someone you love can change everything.” – Mitch Albom
One day spent with someone you love can change everything.” – Mitch Albom
- “Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”– Eckhart Tolle
- “My favorite things in life don’t cost any money. It’s really clear that the most precious resource we all have is time.”– Steve Jobs
- “Time is the wisest counselor of all.”– Pericles
- “Time is free, but it’s priceless. You can’t own it, but you can use it. You can’t keep it, but you can spend it. Once you’ve lost it you can never get it back.”– Harvey MacKay
- “You will never find time for anything. If you want time, you must make it.”– Charles Brixton
- “You’re writing the story of your life one moment at a time.”– Doc Childre & Howard Martin
- “Gaining time is gaining everything in love, trade and war.”– John Shebbeare
- “The strongest of all warriors are these two — Time and Patience.” – Leo Tolstoy
- “Don’t say you don’t have enough time. You have exactly the same number of hours per day that were given to Helen Keller, Pasteur, Michelangelo, Mother Teresa, Leonardo da Vinci, Thomas Jefferson, and Albert Einstein.”– H. Jackson Brown
- “Whether it’s the best of times or the worst of times, it’s the only time we’ve got.”– Art Buchwald
- “Time makes heroes but dissolves celebrities.”– Daniel J. Boorstin
- “Time and memory are true artists; they remould reality nearer to the heart’s desire.”– John Dewey
- “Time = Life, Therefore, waste your time and waste of your life, or master your time and master your life.”– Alan Lakein
- “I don’t care how busy I am – I will always make time for what’s most important to me.”– Kevin Hart
- “Time stays long enough for anyone who will use it.”– Leonardo da Vinci
- “There are no secrets that time does not reveal.”– Jean Racine
- “Everything takes time. Bees have to move very fast to stay still.”– David Foster Wallace
- “With endless time, nothing is special. With no loss or sacrifice, we can’t appreciate what we have.” – Mitch Albom
With endless time, nothing is special. With no loss or sacrifice, we can’t appreciate what we have.” – Mitch Albom
- “If not now, when?”– Anonymous
- “There is always time for success.”– Anonymous
- “The time to act will never be right, make your move before you are ready, and everything will fall into place.”– Anonymous
How do you get everything done during the workday?
Do you have a set routine, a ritual that helps you do things in a methodical way? Or are you a multi-tasker?
Many successful people have daily routines that make use of their waking hours in the best way possible. If you want to learn what these habits entail, check out this post.
You’d be surprised that it’s not all work, work, work. Despite their busy schedules, these people have time for their health, the people they love, and introspection.
These habits are the cornerstone of their success.
It’s all about how they manage the 24 hours they get each day.
We hope that the following quotes about time management can encourage you to manage your own day wisely.
Quotes About Time Management
- “If we take care of the moments, the years will take care of themselves.”– Maria Edgeworth
- “Know the true value of time; snatch, seize, and enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination: never put off till tomorrow what you can do today.”– Philip Stanhope
- “Free time is the most expensive time you have, because nobody pays for it but you. But that also makes it the most valuable time you have, as you alone stand to reap the profits from spending it wisely.”– Jarod Kintz
- “A man who dares to waste one hour of time has not discovered the value of life.”– Charles Darwin
- “You may delay, but time will not.”– Benjamin Franklin
- “Time can be a greedy thing-sometimes it steals the details for itself.”– Khaled Hosseini
- “The key is in not spending time, but in investing it.”– Stephen R. Covey
- “There’s only one thing more precious than our time and that’s who we spend it on.”– Leo Christopher
- “If you love life, don’t waste time, for time is what life is made up of.” – Bruce Lee
- “Change your 24 hours and you will change your life.”– Eric Thomas
- “Time can be an ally or an enemy. What it becomes depends entirely upon you, your goals, and your determination to use every available minute.”– Zig Ziglar
- “Better three hours too soon, than one minute too late.”– William Shakespeare
- “Don’t be fooled by the calendar. There are only as many days in the year as you make use of. One man gets only a week’s value out of a year while another man gets a full year’s value out of a week.”– Charles Richards
- “Determine never to be idle. No person will have occasion to complain of the want of time who never loses any. It is wonderful how much can be done if we are always doing.”– Thomas Jefferson
- “Money, I can only gain or lose. But time I can only lose. So, I must spend it carefully.”– Unknown
Money, I can only gain or lose. But time I can only lose. So, I must spend it carefully.”– Unknown
- “Until we can manage time, we can manage nothing else.” – Peter F. Drucker
- “What may be done at any time will be done at no time.”– Scottish Proverb
- “A year from now you will wish you had started today.”– Karen Lamb
- “In truth, people can generally make time for what they choose to do; it is not really the time but the will that is lacking.”– Sir John Lubbock
- “The great dividing line between success and failure can be expressed in five words: ‘I did not have time.’”– Franklin Field
- “One cannot manage too many affairs: like pumpkins in the water, one pops up while you try to hold down the other.”– Chinese Proverb
- “The common man is not concerned about the passage of time, the man of talent is driven by it.”– Shoppenhauer
- “Work is hard. Distractions are plentiful. And time is short.”– Adam Hochschild
- “We must use time wisely and forever realize that the time is always ripe to do right.”– Nelson Mandela
- “No such thing as spare time, no such thing as free time, no such thing as down time. All you got is life time. Go.”– Henry Rollins
- “I think there is clearly a connection between free time and procrastination. The more you have of the former, all things being equal, the more likely you are to procrastinate.”– James Surowiecki
- “By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.” – Benjamin Franklin
- “There is nothing less productive than to make more efficient what should not be done at all.”– Peter Drucker
- “The most efficient way to live reasonably is every morning to make a plan of one’s day and every night to examine the results obtained.”– Alexis Carrel
- “Yesterday is gone. Tomorrow has not yet come. We have only today. Let us begin.”– Mother Teresa
- “I must govern the clock, not be governed by it.”– Golda Meir
- “The essence of self-discipline is to do the important thing rather than the urgent thing.”– Barry Werner
Do you have dreams that you’ve placed on the back burner, telling yourself that there’s still time to do them in the future?
How long have they been there, waiting for you to manifest them?
Time does not wait for anybody. When we wait too long to bring our dreams to fruition, we may be setting ourselves up for regrets when we run out of time.
Realize that time is precious. Do what you can now. Let these quotes about the value of time remind you of this.
Value of Time Quotes
- “Cherish your yesterdays, dream your tomorrows and live your todays.”– Adlai Stevenson
- “Don’t you ever get the feeling that all your life is going by and you’re not taking advantage of it? Do you realize you’ve lived nearly half the time you have to live already?”– Ernest Hemingway
- “Unfortunately, the clock is ticking, the hours are going by. The past increases, the future recedes. Possibilities decreasing, regrets mounting.”– Haruki Murakami
- “Time takes it all, whether you want it to or not.”– Stephen King
- “Time is a slippery thing: lose hold of it once, and its string might sail out of your hands forever.”– Anthony Doerr
- “If time flies when you’re having fun, it hits the afterburners when you don’t think you’re having enough.”– Jeff Mallett
- “Hands of time move us forward, never back. Only memories frozen in mind, can we re-enact.”– Robert M. Hensel
- “The trouble is, you think you have time.” – The Buddha
- “When you understand the value of time, the resource and the wealth of time, you will be running away from the crowd, you will be running away from distractions.”– Sunday Adelaja
- “Life is about time. Spend more time than you do money on others. Give time more than any other gift. Also, take time when you need to. Take time for you when you need it. Sometimes time is all we have with the people we love the most. I ask you to slow down in life. To take your time, but don't waste it.”– Emma Heatherington
- “He lives long that lives well; and time misspent is not lived but lost.”– Thomas Fuller
- “Lost wealth may be replaced by industry, lost knowledge by study, lost health by temperance or medicine, but lost time is gone forever.”– Samuel Smiles
- “Time is money.”– Benjamin Franklin
- “Until you value yourself, you will not value your time. Until you value your time, you will not do anything with it.” – M. Scott Peck
- “Time is the most valuable thing that a man can spend.”– Diogenes Laërtius
- “Time is long but life is short.”– Stevie Wonder
- “There is no greater harm than that of time wasted.”– Michelangelo
- “Life is a funny thing. We only get so many years to live it, so we have to do everything we can to make sure those years are as full as they can be. We shouldn’t waste time on things that might happen someday, or maybe even never.”– Colleen Hoover
- “Life is short. Focus on what really matters most. You have to change your priorities over time.”– Roy T. Bennett
- “Time is at once the most valuable and the most perishable of all our possessions.”– John Randolph
- “You can’t make up for lost time. You can only do better in the future.” – Ashley Ormon
You can’t make up for lost time. You can only do better in the future.” – Ashley Ormon
- “One day at a time–this is enough. Do not look back and grieve over the past for it is gone; and do not be troubled about the future, for it has not yet come. Live in the present, and make it so beautiful it will be worth remembering.”– Unknown
- “Lost time is never found again.”– Benjamin Franklin
- “An inch of time is an inch of gold but you can't buy that inch of time with an inch of gold.”– Chinese Proverb
- “Time is the coin of your life. It is the only coin you have, and you can determine how it will be spent. Be careful lest you let other people spend it for you.”– Carl Sandburg
- “Time is a precious commodity. If you have not been enlightened to this actuality in your youth, you most certainly will in old age.”– Adam Jacobs
- “Every minute of your time is either spent helping or hurting your chance for the victory you are seeking in your life. Each minute can be an investment.”– Lisa Kardos
What are your favorite quotes so far?
While we remind you about how precious time is, let’s also look at the lighter side of things.
Enjoy these funny quotes about time. They say that laughter is the best medicine, and that time heals all wounds.
Funny Quotes About Time
- “Aside from velcro, time is the most mysterious substance in the universe. You can't see it or touch it, yet a plumber can charge you upwards of seventy-five dollars per hour for it, without necessarily fixing anything.”– Dave Barry
- “Time is a waste of money.”– Oscar Wilde
- “Time is a great teacher, but unfortunately it kills all its pupils.”– Hector Louis Berlioz
- “They say the best things take time. That’s why I’m always late.” – Unknown
- “Time is money, especially when you are talking to a lawyer or buying a commercial.”–Frank Dane
- “Punctuality is the thief of time.”– Oscar Wilde
- “Only time can heal your broken heart. Just as only time can heal his broken arms and legs.”– Jim Henson
Only time can heal your broken heart. Just as only time can heal his broken arms and legs.”– Jim Henson
- “So little time and so little to do.”– Oscar Levant
- “Three o'clock is always too late or too early for anything you want to do.”– Jean-Paul Sartre
- “You know, sometimes, when they say you are ahead of your time, it's just a polite way of saying you have a real bad sense of timing.”– Gov. George McGovern
- “Time and Tide wait for no man, but time always stands still for a woman of thirty.”–Robert Frost
- “Time is an illusion, lunchtime doubly so.” – Douglas Adams
- “For disappearing acts, it's hard to beat what happens to the eight hours supposedly left after eight of sleep and eight of work.”– Doug Larson
- “The time you think you're missing, misses you too.”– Ymber Delecto
- “If you act like you've only got fifteen minutes, it will take all day. Act like you've got all day, it will take fifteen minutes.”– Monty Roberts
- “I am definitely going to take a course on time management… just as soon as I can work it into my schedule.”– Louis E. Boone
- “How long a minute is, depends on which side of the bathroom door you're on.”– Zall's Second Law
- “Day, n. A period of twenty-four hours, mostly misspent.”– Ambrose Bierce
- “Those who make the worst use of their time are the first to complain of its brevity.”– Jean De La Bruyere
- “The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is.”– C. S. Lewis
- “No man goes before his time – unless the boss leaves early.” – Groucho Marx
No man goes before his time – unless the boss leaves early.” – Groucho Marx
- “I had so much free time that free time was meaningless.”– Maggie Stiefvater
- “Never waste a minute thinking about people you don’t like.”– Dwight D. Eisenhower
- “How did it get so late so soon?”– Dr. Seuss
- “There's never enough time to do all the nothing you want.”– Bill Watterson
- “Time spent with a cat is never wasted.”– Colette
- “Regret for wasted time is more wasted time.”– Mason Cooley
- “It’s a strange thing, but when you are dreading something, and would give anything to slow down time, it has a disobliging habit of speeding up.”– J. K. Rowling
- “I wasted time, and now doth time waste me.” – William Shakespeare
- “Time is a dressmaker specializing in alterations.”– Faith Baldwin
- “I usually spend my free time worrying about when I'm going to work next.”– Merritt Wever
- “Free time is an illusion. It's what you get when you die and the gods reward you for a life spent working from dawn until midnight.”– Tamora Pierce
Final Thoughts on Quotes About Time
There you have it—122 time quotes to inspire you to live life to the fullest.
What’s your favorite quote?
We’d love to hear your thoughts, so feel free to write in the comments below.
Also, if the images featured here resonated with you, we’d appreciate a share through your favorite social media platform.
Now go and make the best time of your life.
And if you want more inspirational quotes, be sure to check out these blog posts:
- 108 Never Give Up Quotes for When Life Gets Hard (2023)
- 53 Inspirational Quotes About Change and How to Embrace It
- 73 Quotes About Life to Inspire & Motivate You Throughout the Day
Finally, if you want to use these quotes to make a lasting change to your life, then watch this free video that details the 7-minute habit for planning your day to focus on what's truly important to you..
